Nope, he's not crazy – well, maybe a little bit – but not about this!

  You and I constantly

use "reflexive verbs" in our everyday lives.   Here's a typical morning for many of us —
except for the 4 a.m. and fake leg part!

Most mornings, I wake up at 4:00 a.m.  I lay in bed for a minute, then I get up, put on my fake leg and my Nike sandal, and head to
turn on the cold water faucet, wait for it to get cold, then fill the glass with cold water so I can take the two pills I take every morning
through chemistry!  Then, I grab my toothbrush -- hoping that my friend the spider (who lives underneath my medicine cabinet) has
it!  What the heck does he . . . she? eat anyway? . . . there ain't no flies around! -- anyway, I open the toothpaste tube and put a he
Aquafresh toothpaste on the brush. Then, I brush my teeth.   I then sit on my throne and do my morning business, after which I get
the shower. I turn on the hot water, wait for it to heat up, take off my leg, then I get in the shower stall.  I have a real set routine in th
my hair first, then I wash my face with my pink scrubby, rinse myself off , and then I put creme rinse in my hair. I turn off the water,
bodzuda with Dial soap and my scrubby.  I wash my silicone sleeve – the thing I put on my stumpy leg to hold the fake leg on – and
back on.  I rinse my hair, my bod and my sleeve. Then I turn off the shower and grab the towel.  I dry myself off, dry my sleeve, the
my stump and put on my fake leg.   I brush my hair and put a couple of caterpillars in it (those are the things that hold my hair in a p
walk back to the bedroom and sit down on the end of the bed.  I take off the leg and the sleeve, then I put some medicine on my stu
sleeve again, then I grab my Old Spice stick deodorant and put that on.  Next I put on some undies, grab a pair of Zubas, a T-shirt
Then I put the leg back on, along with a sock and a shoe on my good leg.  I stand up, put on my coat, feel in the pocket to make su
and I head for the door. . . .   Of course, the reflexives actions were in this color )

You will have noticed that we English-speakers do not always have to use the 'reflexive
pronouns':  MYSELF . . . HIMSELF . . . HERSELF . . . OURSELVES . . . ITSELF . . .
THEMSELVES for a verb to denote a reflexive action.  In English, sometimes we use
them:

I look at MYSELF in every mirror I walk by.

Scampy, my cat, cleans HERSELF fastidiously each day.

and sometimes we don't . . . just like the above paragraph demonstrated.    Please
remember this:

In Spanish, you MUST use the reflexive pronoun each, and every time you want to express a reflexiv

You probably did not realize it, but you've been using a "reflexive verb" from the very
first day of Spanish class with me.    Each time you answered my question, ¿Cómo te
llamas? with "Me llamo _____," you were using the reflexive verb llamarse.

Steve says: If you examine this infinitive carefully, you will see the ol' -AR verb
llamar embedded in there.
You say: So what's with that se attached to it?
Steve says: Well, that's a 'reflexive pronoun,' which serves as a "marker". . . it
alerts you to the fact that this llamar verb is now a "reflexive
verb" in its infinitive form.    The llamar, of course, means: "to
call," like on the telephone or to call to dinner, and is used in
sentences like: Yo llamo a mis padres cada domingo. *     The verb
 llamarse means "to call oneself."
You say: Oh.
Steve says: Is that pretty clear now?
You say: That's as clear as mud!
Steve says: Do you need some more information?
You say: Uh-huh.
Steve says: Okie-Dokie!
 
Here we go. Remember your verb conjugation chart? You know the one I mean:

 
Well, just like there are six conjugation cells for each verb in Spanish, there are six . . . count ‘
reflexive pronoun cells that fit into this same schematic, and each reflexive pronoun correspond
the subject and verb conjugation in the cell. Let me show you what I mean. Here are the reflex
that go with yo, tú, él, ella, usted, mi madre, nosotros . . . and so on:
Now, we put them together with the conjugations of the verb llamar and, BAM!,

we have a beautifully conjugated reflexive verb. S- W- E- E- T- !! And now you can see exactly
that first-day icebreaker "¿Cómo te llamas?" and the correct answer "¿Me llamo _______?"
 
OK, let's make a quick list of the verbs that can be "reflexive verbs". I'll give you their English
-- yep, you can believe all the good things you hear about me!! -- then we'll do some exercises w
despertarse (ie) to wake (oneself) up levantarse to get (oneself) up
lavarse to wash (oneself) cepillarse to brush (oneself)
limpiarse to clean (oneself) ducharse to shower (oneself)
bañarse to bathe (oneself) secarse to dry (oneself)
ponerse to put on (oneself) maquillarse to put makeup on (o
cortarse to cut (oneself) romperse to break (oneself)
fracturarse to fracture (oneself) peinarse to comb (oneself)
morirse (ue) to die (oneself) echarse to throw (oneself)
casarse to get (oneself) married preocuparse to worry (oneself)
presentarse to introduce (oneself) cambiarse de to change (oneself)
enamorarse to fall (oneself) in love with despedirse (i) to take (oneself's)
mudarse to move (oneself) to or from trasladarse to transfer (onesel
quejarse de to complain (oneself) about equivocarse to find (oneself) in
atreverse to get(oneself's)courage up enough to comportarse to comport (oneself
suicidarse to kill (oneself) abstenerse(ie) to abstain (oneself
arrepentirse (ie) to repent (oneself) of perderse(ie) to lose (oneself)
meterse to put (oneself) acostarse(ue) to lay (oneself) dow
desnudarse to get (oneself) naked
quitarse to remove from (oneself) or to remove from (oneself)
 
I'll show you how we move the pronoun around and conjugate out these "reflexive verbs" on the
OK?